On Thursday, Sweetgreen made a splash on the New York Public Exchange with its initial IPO. The salad company’s shares closed at 76%, up from $28 to above $49 a share, with a market value of more than $5.3 billion. The price opened at $52 a share.
Bloomberg | Getty Images“Sweetgreen was founded in response to the fact that the legacy restaurant model failed to anticipate evolving consumer tastes and methods of engagement,” the company wrote in its SEC filing. “We believe our brand and offering sit at the intersection of these powerful consumer trends shaping our industry.”
Related: Sweetgreen CEO Apologizes to Staff After Fatphobic Comments
The chain got its start in 2007, and has since grown to 140 restaurants across 13 states. A large chunk of Sweetgreen’s growth has been reliant on technology, with CNBC reporting more than two-thirds of its revenue comes from digital sales.
In the filing, the Los Angeles-based company also wrote that it plans to open at least 30 company-owned restaurants in 2021 and is aiming to double its footprint in the next three to five years. However, the chain has yet to turn a profit.
“We believe humans will always be part of the Sweetgreen experience,” co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman told Yahoo. “We just believe in continuing to invest in technology to enable them to do their job in a better way”
